Catholics can participate via Facebook, Twitter, apps, as well as broadcasting, livestreaming and blogging by media outlets, including EWTN and the Register.

WASHINGTON — For millions of Catholics around the globe, the road to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro isn’t by plane, train or bus, but by new methods: Facebook, Twitter and apps.

Catholics are taking advantage of the opportunity to follow Pope Francis to Rio as “social pilgrims,” using a variety of new and social-media platforms to engage in the World Youth Day experience.

Already, 2.6 million English Twitter users and 2.8 million Spanish Twitter users follow Pope Francis (who tweets under the handle @Pontifex), whose daily “tweets” (140-character messages) have been described as a “lectio divina for Catholics” on which to meditate for the day.

BOOK REVIEW

Author Frank Mercadante’s teen credentials are impeccable: He is a professional youth minister with 30 years of pastoral experience and the father of six grown or nearly grown children. His ministry to “Generation X” parish youth was so prolific that he adopted a phrase from that iconic 80s movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” Eventually, Mercadante started his own business training other youth ministers in his highly successful methods.

Then the Millennial generation started high school, and even Mercadante...READ MORE

Opus Dei Father C. John McCloskey shares his recollections of the soon-to-be-blessed Bishop Alvaro del Portillo.

Pope John Paul II embraces Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the second leader of Opus Dei, in St. Peter's Square.

– Facebook/Don Álvaro del Portillo

Editor's note: On Register Radio July 19, Jeanette De Melo interviewed Father C. John McCloskey about the upcoming beatification of Venerable Bishop Alvaro del Portillo. Listen online here.

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis approved the beatification of Venerable Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the second leader of Opus Dei, after signing a July 5 decree recognizing a miracle granted through the intercession of the Spanish-born bishop.

Opus Dei Father C. John McCloskey, a Church historian and research fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, welcomed the news as a “great good for the Church.” He recalled the striking virtues and accomplishments of the beloved Opus Dei leader, as...READ MORE